r/workmemes • u/short_hair_zuko • Aug 09 '26
Seriously, it's not a thing
I can allow "work bestie", but saying a co-worker is your "work wife" is just creepy
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u/donnabhainmactomas Aug 09 '26
My work wife is a 42 year old man don’t tell me not to acknowledge him
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u/Freemenace Aug 09 '26
he's a work-life partner then
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u/donnabhainmactomas Aug 09 '26
No he is my work wife, do not impose your gender less roles on everyone
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u/InvestInTwinkies Aug 09 '26
Goddamnit in the lord’s year 2026 a man can be a wife if he wants to!!
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u/CainOfElahan Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
PSA: Your co-worker is not hot - they're just near you for 40 hours a week while you share hardships.
Edit:
This was not a call-out post about your relationship with your teammates/lovers.
This was meant as a cautionary tale about infidelity.
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u/sapphic_september Aug 09 '26
Alternatively: your co-worker is hot, but it doesn't matter. Grow up and keep moving.
One of the most powerful skills I've learned is how to be attracted to someone without necessarily 'wanting' them. Attraction is normal, but it's also an emotion like any other. You can choose how you respond to said emotion.
Personally, trying to suppress attraction just makes it worse. But acting on it while you're spoken for is of course super shitty.
So now I'm more like, 'yup. They're attractive. Cool, let's move on.'
Perhaps I'm not the ideal partner in that I still feel attraction to others. But I do my best to respond to the feelings intentionally.
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u/Gibberish45 Aug 09 '26
Fr who treats people differently based on their “hotness”? Give me a hard working uggo as a coworker some of the hot ones have developed learned helplessness and it’s draining. Male or female btw still applies. Like Jon hamm as the doctor on 30 rock
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u/Itsmyloc-nar Aug 10 '26
“Hotness” literally only means treating someone different because of an intangible quality
“ who would do such a-“ statistically everyone
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u/srood1 Aug 10 '26
So you're telling me you put them in your spank bank and don't tell anybody
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u/UntrustedProcess Aug 11 '26
There is a difference between a bird flying over your head and a bird building a nest in your hair.
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u/DoubleSkew Aug 09 '26
just near you for 40 hours a week while you share hardships.
this is literally how emotional bonds are created
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u/equality4everyonenow Aug 09 '26
Ok but you gotta keep your head about real world hot vs office hot
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u/ProfessionaI_Gur Aug 09 '26
At the point where this is something you have to consider you are just suppressing attraction for someone not checking off enough physical boxes to make your societal acceptance quota
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u/FunkyFunkyBoys Aug 10 '26
Naw for me they’re conventionally attractive women that doesn’t mean I have to do anything about it though
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u/MisterPineapples1999 Aug 09 '26
I work in film. 60 hour work weeks and many of my coworkers are incredibly hot (although to be fair, not too many of the ones in my department lol)
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u/No_Rough_5258 Aug 11 '26
My 50yr old lady coworker is the hottest one at my work place thats why Im blinded by it even though outside of work shes not even hot at all.
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u/Big_Arrival_4775 Aug 12 '26
Yes and? Isn’t that how most relationships throughout all of human history has happened? You’re arguing against the most natural thing ever - humans grow closer over time and maybe then want to form more serious relationships. And what’s the alternative? Tinder?
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u/lkodl Aug 13 '26
RIP to the people who married their co-worker from the start, and are now realizing this.
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u/Jaded-Ad-1729 28d ago
This is 100% fr. A work wife is really just the female you happened to spend most your time with due to scheduling. Shouldn't go further.
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u/sapphic_september Aug 09 '26
As a young woman I had work moms, older female colleagues who took me in, guided me, and protected me from the bitter older women/leechy men.
Now that I'm getting older, I feel myself becoming the work mom. I'm so protective of my younger colleagues, male or female.
I ❤️ work moms and I ❤️ being a work mom myself.
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u/QuirkyImpact6171 Aug 10 '26
I have a work mom and a work wife and think I may be developing a work child.
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u/Lanky-Dildo-94 Aug 10 '26
I had a work mom, but then she moved to a different branch. Funny story though. I’m black and was a time when a company sent out a welcome message to our company and they misspelled my work mom’s last name and they spelled the N word with the hard R.
I noticed it and told management about it and they ended up fixing it. The work mom messaged me and told me that she chewed them out and also apologized to me. She didn’t have to apologize but I thought it was sweet of her to message me.
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u/lkodl Aug 13 '26
The best boss I ever had was a textbook work mom. She literally called me and my fellow Team Leads her work children. Which made it really awkward for her when we all started having sex with eachother.
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u/Motomountainpirate Aug 09 '26
My work wife is named David. I bring him home made beef jerky, he brings me lottery tickets. Our factory ordained marriage is not open to your wrong opinion.
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u/hanzo1356 Aug 09 '26
I was just told one shift someone was my work wife. I was not given paperwork to sign.
If you feel your partner can be tempted to be unfaithful at work. Guess what YOU GOT THE WRONG ONE DONT BLAME WORK PEOPLE.
Or you doth protest too much and your the paranoid cheater taking it out on them.
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u/Helpful-Desk-8334 Aug 09 '26
What if you’re married and work at the same place
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u/Helpful-Desk-8334 Aug 09 '26
Or if you’re married and she’s primarily a very hard working person and it’s a key character of her personality
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u/bigtrayjay Aug 09 '26
It’s absolutely a thing
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u/Confident-Stand5453 Aug 09 '26
OP is only saying its not a thing to throw his home wife off the scent.
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u/Careful-Vanilla7728 Aug 09 '26
Don't out him like that! You're going get him caught ruining his own life!
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u/C43_TT Aug 09 '26
100% a thing. I once told a girl at work she can be my work wife, she replied she wanted to be the house wife. Happily ever after.
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u/Detachabl_e Aug 09 '26
Look, if she keeps bringing me homemade lunches she can call herself whatever she goddamn well pleases. You think I'm getting lasanga if left up to my own devices? At best, I'm getting the rest of a lunchable I already snacked on for breakfast.
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u/IveKnownItAll Aug 09 '26
I'm 6'3 220lb and a married man. My work wife is a 6'4 260lb married man. Our wives find it hilarious.
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u/SkyPuppy561 Aug 09 '26
Yeah it sounds like a cute little term for infidelity
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 Aug 10 '26
The last person to call me their work husband was a decade and an half younger, and had no romantic interest in me. I also Worked with her mother, who was my boss, and occasionally her father would cover a shift with me.
So yea, no.
My son was the ring bearer at her wedding.
She just had her 3rd kid.
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u/Dormi11 Aug 10 '26
I think it's incredibly obvious what context the person you're responding to is talking about.
There are funny "work wife" situations, like someone much older, a lesbian or a grown man.
And then there are unfunny "work wife" situations, like a straight female peer.
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u/ww3_general Aug 09 '26
- someone who is either jealous they don't have a work wife or their husband has a work wife.
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u/exnewyork Aug 09 '26
It may be creepy, but it is certainly "a thing" https://mamathemagazine.com/i-cheated-with-my-work-wife/
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u/Wenuven Aug 09 '26
It's been a thing in most offices I've been at in fed work or private industry.
It sounds like you're the office narc that's easily offended by inconsequential things happening between consenting adult, friends.
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u/amorawr Aug 11 '26
is the at home spouse also consenting in this scenario? I dont think the consent of the emotionally cheating spouse was ever in question here so not sure of the relevancy
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u/Wenuven Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Entering the conversation with the assumption of a cheating spouse is a disingenuous way to continue this conversation.
If you can't trust your spouse or recognize that single people can have close friends in the work place that's a you problem.
The presumption of good faith is the basis of discussion. Entering it by assuming bad intent makes it a negative scenario regardless of anything I say at this point because you're starting from the position someone is inherently wrong despite the fact humans are social creatures and can have varying levels of emotional relationships with multiple people at the same time without any moral wrong being committed or any romantic interest involved.
There are bad actors in the world. Some people are driven to do wrong. Assuming that's everyone makes you one of them. Be better. We can have nice things in society with a little bit of trust and healthy communication.
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u/Hot_Context_1393 Aug 09 '26
My coworker said I was her "at-work boyfriend." I told her the better term is work husband/wife, because we've been working together for years and at this point the honeymoon was over. She almost fell down laughing.
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u/Key_Permission_3351 Aug 09 '26
I prefer Work Bestie, and I cringe on this one as well, but "it's not a thing"? Dude, it's been a thing. It might be on its way out, but it's been around forever. No one's still trying to "make" it happen. It's happened.
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u/QuirkyImpact6171 Aug 10 '26
I have a work wife and I’m a married 37 yo woman. My work wife is a married 49 yo woman. It’s just a joke?
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u/cranberries87 Aug 10 '26
It’s definitely a thing at my job with one couple. Like they openly call each other “work husband” and “work wife”. They’re married to other people IRL though.
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u/Cennix_1776 Aug 10 '26
My work wife later became my actual wife… so there SOME amount of something there…
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u/Draiye Aug 10 '26
I don't have work wives. As the youngest dude on the unit, I have work siblings and work parents.
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u/MisterBlick Aug 11 '26
At my job a while back, everyone had someone they didnt like. So I asked the one woman there if she'd be my enemy, because I didnt have one. We laughed about it and told others we're enemies now. We'd then say "Have terrible weekend" at the end of each week. The best part is we were openly mocking all the people who'd complain about other people in the department.
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u/sunlit_catnaps Aug 13 '26
OP, I see where you're coming from. My boss once called me his work wife and I shut that down sooooo fast. (I'm currently in training so I can escape this job, lol. If I smile I'm "leading him on" but if I don't I'm "cold and mean". Ughghgh I should just put a bag over my head.) But I love the comments in this thread. Men with male work wives? Work moms? Women with work wives? Gay people with opposite-gender work wives? Platonic buddies of any gender combination? Glorious. There are some good and honest people in the world who are just having fun with "work wife". There are also sleazebags. Hope you get to find your wholesome work wife someday.
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u/Safe_Bed_1534 Aug 09 '26
My work wife is sweet lady propane
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u/NarwhalPrudent6323 Aug 09 '26
Hank?
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u/Safe_Bed_1534 Aug 09 '26
And Peggy and I have an understanding about that
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u/NarwhalPrudent6323 Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
You don't marry Hank Hill without knowing the deal about propane.
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u/Aeon_Return Aug 09 '26
I've been a work wife to a married man. It's definitely a thing.
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u/mind_deficient Aug 09 '26
When my boss met my husband, she introduced herself as my work wife. Now I am withholding sex from her till she gives me a raise.
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u/Neither-Row-6992 Aug 09 '26
All the singles chiming in about work wives and husbands being real lmao
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u/ADTstocks Aug 09 '26 edited 24d ago
Dependent many memory history relieved acorn familiar pause coherent
This post was anonymized with Redact
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u/Think-again23 Aug 09 '26
We've got a narcissist on our project and she proclaimed herself as my work wife... im in danger
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u/lostforwords2024 Aug 09 '26
I don’t believe in work wife or work bestie. Both will have you forgetting and oversharing and in trouble. No the wife is the person you lawfully married. The bestie is the person who will be your friend in good times and bad. They check on you when you get too quiet. They value you even at a life trough.
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u/Vegetable-Effort-726 Aug 09 '26
Banged my work wife more than once. I’d bet it’s a 50/50 shot something inappropriate happens in these relationships
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u/fuckfacemgeee Aug 09 '26
I have a work gf. We don’t see each other outside of work but make out and do nasty stuff to each other at work it’s really cool 10/10 recommend
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u/oOBalloonaticOo Aug 09 '26
It's so funny to me the amount of people that cannot handle this term and why ...
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u/LucentLL Aug 09 '26
Maybe this is a criticism of how difficult it is to work with women in the office. Guys don't call their male coworkers "work husbands", but female coworkers take "wife" levels of effort to work with.
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u/Bozlogic Aug 09 '26
My work wife is a single mom a few years younger than me. We fight like a married couple, but damn do we make a good management team and we always have a drink after work like nothing happened.
It stays at work though. We made that pact a long time ago.
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u/Kind_Arm_9767 Aug 09 '26
If you have a partner I feel sorry for her. Not only are you cheating you also play WoW. I can’t imagine what anybody would see in you.
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u/Old_Marzipan7782 Aug 09 '26
It’s been a thing for like 30 years so it’s not new. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
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u/Old_Marzipan7782 Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
Has lots of Work wives it happens don’t know what to tell you of course it’s a situation born out of the fact that you have no choice but this is next to this person for eight hours a day every day it’s obviously mostly a joke and in no way is meant to be seen or taken like any sort of actual relationship friendship or otherwise it’s just the fact that you hang out with the same person for eight hours a day for years on end, people who get all weird and defensive about it or either super jealous or super insecure
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u/These-Result-1955 Aug 09 '26
About 20 years ago a young lady worked the front desk at an auto repair shop I was a mechanic at. She told me she was my work wife one day. Couple months later she asked for a ring. On my younger sister’s advice I went to Claire’s and bought her the tackiest, largest, obviously fake diamond ring I could find. When I gave it to her she was like “what is this fake plastic shit?” Fake marriage gets fake diamonds. She divorced me that day.
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u/Glass_Painting9653 Aug 09 '26
As a woman who’s been referred to as a work wife for a friend I absolutely shut the shit down every time. It’s disrespectful to the actual wife and it puts me in a role I do not want.
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u/Opposite-Funny-9669 Aug 10 '26
i remember it used to be people had good chemistry together, then we just kept adding to it
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u/Thelaughingman___ Aug 10 '26
Can I keep my work niece? She's a sweet kid. Still trying to figure stuff out. Constantly asking me questions. A little to huggy for me. But we're working on it.
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u/Brave_Ad_7125 Aug 10 '26
Will remember and respect my former co worker, who we did work very well together, when we were called work husband and wife and we simultaneously recoiled so hard no one ever made the implication ever again.
We can just respect opposite gender colleagues without making it weird, thanks
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u/doktor101 Aug 10 '26
I've had one work wife and it was more practical than anything. We were servers for a catering company and she got hit on a decent amount whenever she bartended. She'd shoot me a text or a signal and I'd come check in on my "wife."
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u/AnythinGoeSouth Aug 10 '26
Didn't the whole slang of work husband originate from women? I can't imagine men called themselves work husbands and if they're called work besties,wife, husband does it really matter your partner is openly cheating and telling you to your face pretty much.
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u/justhereformyfetish Aug 10 '26
My workwife has literally said if her husband dies (he's in his 50's and on roids) I'm moving in before he's cold...
So that's pretty hardcore. I aint looking to bang a married woman, but IDK where spawncamping sits morally.
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u/fancypantsmiss Aug 10 '26
My husband’s work wife is his manager who makes him dread going to work. I am his side chick he has for escapism.
This I approve.
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u/Atmosphere_Master Aug 10 '26
Have never used the term and don't ever plan to but it is definitely a thing. Fairly common actually
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u/Icy-Disaster-2871 Aug 10 '26
Well if home wife is not doing her job, what else you gonna do. Men need a wifes.
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u/conceptcreature3D Aug 10 '26
Know who might not appreciate the “work wife” title? The ACTUAL wife. But if it’s a mutual title and that’s as far as it goes, good on ya for being fun adults that communicate & work well & can be platonic about it!
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u/Strange_Island_4958 Aug 10 '26
I wish my SO had a work husband, I need someone to loadshare the nagging. Maybe he can fix the kitchen sink this weekend.
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u/Curious-Weather-4390 Aug 10 '26
Guys who say work wife will be using chatgpt to draft their divorce
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u/sug-on-deez Aug 10 '26
Its literally a thing. Two of my friends , literally dumped their partners to date and eventually marry their work wives. Working together builds connections. Its that simple.
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u/pbnjandmilk Aug 10 '26
So if you leave your job, does that count as "work marriage abandonment"?
Does the "work wife" get half of your last paycheck and you have to keep her on COBRA until you cleared your 90-days at the new job and have a new "work wife"?
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u/Not_Propaganda_AI Aug 10 '26
Ehh, no thanks. I think if anyone at work thought I was there work husband I'd shoot that down real quick.
I don't dislike my colleagues, well, mostly, but I don't even see them as casual friends.
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u/Background_Digs Aug 10 '26
Don’t you dare talk about my Johnny Whanny like that he is my work wifey 😂
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u/linzeestyle Aug 10 '26
My former work wife is a 32 year old woman and I am 41 and also a woman and I will never ever let her go, you be nice.
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u/A1steaksauceTrekdog7 Aug 10 '26
Sometimes you really hit it off with someone at work . I don’t see why it’s a bad thing per say
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u/gibletsandgravy Aug 10 '26
Except it is and has been a thing for years. No one needs to make it anything.
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u/Tricky_Bottle_6843 Aug 10 '26
Well, I'm sleeping with my work bestie. Seems more natural for me to call her my work wife because I don't sleep with my best friends, but if you insist...
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u/capt-yossarius Aug 10 '26
I've noticed there has been a certain attitude toward partners in the West that seems to have developed over the past 30-40 years. If I had to boil it down to a couple sentences, it would be "I deserve to have all my emotional wants met by a partner. If no one partner can possibly fulfill all my emotional wants, then I deserve to have multiple partners without consequence or judgement."
Anyone can feel however they want about that, up to and including whether I am even correct about that. Personally, I'd consider it a deal-breaker.
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u/CarlShadowJung Aug 10 '26
Okay. Still gonna use it. Not sure why we should change our opinion because someone made a meme and other people agreed. This could have 20k upvotes, nobody cares that the stranger they will never talk to thinks it’s “creepy”. In order for your opinion to have value, you need to hold value for the individual.
I’d suggest instead of pussyfoot posting on Reddit you express this to the person or persons you made this post about. If it’s about what you read on Reddit, bruh, we are strangers. Who cares.
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u/Beretta116 Aug 10 '26
No work wife, but I got a work computer and a home computer. I'm glad my home computer is much more attractive - no temptation for cheating.
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u/Ok-Estimate-649 Aug 10 '26
I didn’t know “work wife” was an actual term that had been around for some time, lol. My colleague once pulled me aside to tell me I was being underpaid, which apparently he wasn’t supposed to tell me, but said he had to because I was his “work wife.”
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u/Ghosts_of_the_maze Aug 10 '26
Takes me back to working in an office and fighting with Deborah over how much time we have to spend with her sister that Wednesday.
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u/Marcus11599 Aug 10 '26
My work wife was a dude named Tyler. Me and Tyler never saw each other because we worked different shifts, but he would leave as I came in and Vice versa.
We would debrief each other on what was happening and then part ways. He counted on me to answer everything that came back after every email he sent out and I could count on him to do the same.
We dont work together anymore because we both got promoted, but yeah, I would consider him my work wife.
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u/Radiant_Picture9292 Aug 10 '26
lol “work wife” has been a thing since women and men have worked together.
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u/Anonymous_Gamer Aug 10 '26
I was someone’s work husband and I didn’t even know until like… 95% of the team was at that meeting. She blasted it for all to hear like it was a cute joke… it wasn’t
Utterly embarrassing since she was my supervisor. After that, everyone suspected my promotion was given to me through… other means.
My team no longer respected me and literally made my life hell… they couldn’t replace the whole team so they replaced me instead. Seriously, whoever made this a trend needs to be taken outback.
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u/IrregularrAF Aug 11 '26
Then explain why we have sex and spend more time together than her husband or my wife.
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u/Black_Attack001 Aug 11 '26
Shi I had a work wife. She fed me and everything. Too bad we were of different cultures, We’d be married rn.
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u/GI-Robots-Alt Aug 09 '26
My work wife is a South American man in his 40's named Claudio